My top 10 fav songs

A visit to the farmer's market and some beautiful songs on my onkyo system, what could make a better Saturday? Every single time I listen to some of my favourite songs, I just feel a sense of importance in being born. Makes me feel so light but very motivated to do something which people can look at and appreciate. What sets a clear demarcation between great people and legends is the difference in making people happy. Did it sound like entertainers = philanthropists? Aren't they trying to make the earth a happier place to live in?

Again success is relative. To some success is gaining self importance and recognition. To some its all money. To some its all peace. But I think vast majority consist of people who feel happy about making others happy. Although the degree varies widely, the motive is the same.
Enough blabbering. I have wanted to list down 10 of my all time fav songs for quite a long time. So here it goes...

• Vaseegara (from the movie Minnale) - video This song just drives me crazy every single time I listen to it. Every single aspect of this song was made to help people close their eyes and take a trip to the heavens. Harris Jeyaraj and Bombay Jeyashree having given their soul to this song. No part of this song sounds artificial. The flute piece is divine.
• Happy together (1967 song from Turtles) -video. If you love someone very dearly in life, you might want to listen to this song. This is just the perfect song anyone can imagine to sing to his/her dear one. Special parts of this song are the seconds background chorus and the trumpet. Of course the lead is fabulous too. This song is just simplicity at its best.
  
• Ilaya Nile (from the movie Payanankal Mudivathillal) - video Two facts about this songs are undeniably true. Illayaraja is a genius and this song was the biggest trend setter of the 80s. The guitar interludes are fabulous. This is every single guitar aspirant's dream song. Needless to say SPB was at his sublime best. If you don't treat yourself to this song, you have missed something in life.
• My heart will go on (from Titanic) - video Celine Dion's voice is enchanting. Lyrics are superb. And as always, the flute piece is fabulous. James Horner's music is very rich but not overdone. Just the right ingredients to make this song an all time best.
• Netru illadha matram (from Pudhiya Mugam) - video I believe in what SPB said in one of the live shows about A.R.Rahman. His music comes from the heavens. We are very unlucky not to have heard more of Sujatha's sweet voice. She is just excellent. What I like most about this song is the bass rhythm. Very unique and trendy. It is such a melodious song portraying ARR's versatility and greatness.
• Liberian Girl (Micheal Jackson) - video Micheal Jackson proves again that he is the best entertainer the world has ever seen, but this time with his voice alone. This song features loads of celebrities from Hollywood. Dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor. I have watched this over and over since Micheal's death. Makes me so sad. There will be only one Micheal Jackson. He was born to entertain, but he exceeds that by entertaining even after his death.I wish I had at least 10% of his talents.
• Thriller and Dangerous (Micheal Jackson) - Thriller video and Dangerous live Munich video That Micheal Jackson revolutionized music and dance is an understatement. His dance steps still remain the most imitated all over the world. Above all, he wrote many of his songs himself, choreographed, sang and visualized them. Again there can be only one Micheal Jackson and I guess we are appreciating it more after his death. I consider the Munich live performance as his best dance performance ever. Watch this if you haven't.
  
• Unnai partha pinbu naan (from the movie Kadhal Mannan) - video Now this is really out of nowhere. This song has enchanted me right since my college days. I still can't determine as to why this song sounds so special to me. Was it SPB's voice? the composition? mix of rock and melody? This is a gem from Bharathwaj. Don't quite understand why this song didn't get the recognition like many other main stream hits. But this song is very special to me. Listen to the jazz guitar interludes. Well, to be honest I did have a temporary crush on this actress, but believe me it is not the only reason which influenced my liking to this song.
• Anjali Anjali Anjali (from the movie Anjali) video This is one of my niece's fav songs and mine too. Well, only that she is 3 and I am 30. Shows that illayaraja's brilliance spreads across generations. This movie is one of my all time favourites too. Hats off to Manirathnam for this wonderful wonderful movie. This song features the voices of a lot of kids who have done an excellent job with their voice and of course with showcasing their dancing talents. Hope we can get to see more such masterpieces in our lifetime.
• Yenakku oru girl friend venum (from the movie boys) video This song brought Karthik to the forefront of stardom. Something to notice about this song is that this song is very jazzy. Seems ARR asked him to sing like a saxophone and he did just that. I am not sure if this song would have made it this big if he had sang this song with a very formal tone. Of course this song is a fast number filled with ARRs genius.

Well there is my list. Until next time cya..

Chicken Kolambu for a lazy saturday afternoon

Blogging after quite a while. In fact first after getting married. Made chicken kolambhu today. Find recipe here . Very simple and easy recipe. Kudos to Devi.

Having an urge to write tech blogs since moving to the bay area. Learning a lot of new things. Hope to catch up with the tech blogs. Well, for now got to get back to the Spurs vs GS warriors match. Parker and Ginobili are back after their injury layoffs. Love to watch them play.

I love my car

Lazy saturday. Got up pretty late. The best thing that could happen on such a wonderful day was my car ditching me. My dear car refused to start. I was so surprised that I didn't get furious. I kept my calm and there was no indication of something inside me telling me to lose my temper. That inner voice just didn't speak up. Other than my sympathy for my poor car at having found such an irresponsible owner, no other emotional attack. I vow to service my car the moment she gets better. Hope she will cooperate when it gets a little warmer outside. She's sick right now with all the freezing cold.
Learnt a big lesson. Whatever has gone wrong has already gone wrong. You can only screw it up more by worrying or fretting about it. It's time to get outta your comfort zone and do things.

India in 2020

Velmurugan struggled past the thick layer of snow covering the North Usman Road. 30 degree Fahrenheit, pretty stern winter. He couldn't help but wonder how hot chennai was just a few years back. Things had changed around so unbelievably. Same with his life. Climbing from a fresh college graduate to be the CEO of the most established bank in India was something he least expected. J.P.Murugan, the bank named after him, saw nothing but profit under his leadership. Now he was in an acquisition spree, buying products off the shelf to render services. One such acquisition was to buy software packages off the shelf and plug it in to the bank's requirements. Obvious choice was to bring people from countries like the United States and Australia, where labour cost was almost half and he could get more work done with offshore leveraging. The way companies like Ogle operated was based on such a strong onsite offshore model that all that the onsite resources in India would do was to work and their offshore counterparts live up to the name of the company, Ogle. Whether the projects were completed on time or not, these companies knew the art of money extraction. Promise a rosy 4 months delivery time for a 10 month initial schedule and push for a phase II when the defects go beyond control. All they were after was Rupees. Each Rupee was worth 102 dollars and by pushing, (or at least acting like pushing) more work offshore, they could push more rupees into their pockets.

Murugan, as his colleagues addressed him, walked to his Maruti Neon. This was the latest hybrid gas filled V5 engine with a 200 miles per gallon of neon. More smiles per mile. Neon being lighter than hydrogen, which was the main fuel source for the low end cars, enabled him to maintain a higher altitude while traversing through traffic. Cool stuff. He switched on his SPS (Shuttle Positioning System), which he recently ordered from appason.com (appa+son=variation of amazon). It just cost him Rs.200,026. Pretty cheap for the features it provides. It beeped as he entered the freeway 1956781 North. He had to travel at 220mph for 15 minutes before taking flydown (exit) 107 to reach NH47, which was once a highway and now just used as a parkway for the employees of JP Murgan. Parking was not that costly here, just Rs.15000 per hour. It was like a drop in the ocean for Murugan. Pushing the autopark button in his Neon, he stepped on to the escalator which would take him to his cabin, about 5 miles away. His Secretary robot held out the cup of Bru coffee. His day wouldn't start without it. Bru had bought the coffee giants MoonBucks, the biggest acquisition known to mankind. They were now sweeping the International market as if they were the only coffee company around. Either drink Bru or die thirsty. hihihihi pretty good slogan eh?? (Tamil start) Dei Raj, ni yengoyo irukka vendiyavan da. Yellaam thalai vidhi, inga kuppa kottura (Tamil end)

After an entire day of pouring into his daily chores, he set home with a sense of accomplishment.

Wake up dudes and dudettes, this was an exaggeration. Filled something in to pass time. Not even giving it a review before posting this blog. Hope in the near future, we get to see a time like this.

My perspectives of staying alone

Definitely Swetha has got me thinking today with her blog (read the blog below). Never in my life have I imagined I could stay alone. Infact I never belived I could. Being a very talkative person, it was simply not possible. I find myself staying alone now for the past 6 months or so. I never crib about anything. I seldom get angry, seldom feel sad, seldom feel happy. I have been living like a machine. I would feel happy when Federer or Schumi won. I would feel terribly sad when they lost. The only person I spoke to in office and after office was Kapil. The only person I spoke to everyday was my brother. During my childhood I always hated my brother, sometimes even to the level where I wished I didnt have a brother at all. At this point of time, if you ask me who I loved the most in life, I would say it is my brother. Well perspectives change and staying alone helps you get a thing or two into your head. When things go wrong for me, he feels more for me than I do for myself. But the way he handles it and induces confidence in me is something I yearn for.
I am still sorry I hated him when I was a kid. I know he loved me and he will love me always. But what I owe to him is something more than just an apology. He is a great guy and I am damn lucky.
Well I started writing something and ended writing another. Whatever, a blog is a blog.

Alas, we can never undo the past.

Wish I had written this blog before she did. But would've never got close to writing it so well.
We all have moments in life which we would like to forget. But those moments keep haunting us forever. How good it would be to go back in time, to change them. We all know we cannot. Atleast, we can apologize to those whom we hurt, even though they might not remember those incidents.
Wonderful read.
http://mytwaddles.blogspot.com/2006/02/undo-past.html

Kudos to the dodo...

check this out, reX geORge at his personal best

He is a great musician... great friend... great philosopher... great poet... now he proves he is good with the lens too... If you dont check out his album, then you've missed something wonderful...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rexposure/

Fascination for horror movies

Was just wondering why I have this fascination for horror movies. Has it got something to do with my character? Majority like comedy or action movies very much in line with their characteristics of wanting to forget their worries or a very active life. People who are hyperactive don't seem to like slow romantic movies. Well, which category do horror movies belong to? How can I judge my own character by this quality? All I can feel is a sense of contentment when I watch horror movies. God knows why...
And there goes the itching in my palm again. According to an adage, when palm itches, money flows in. My palm has been itching for quite sometime now, but haven't found the treasure yet.